The Devil's Daughter
by SergeantPixie
Summary: Emily's mulit-level identity issue. She's not Emily Thorne or Amanda Clarke. She's Nobody. drabble fic


"_Master of disguise move unseen_

_shadow on the night silent hunter_

_appetite aroused by the smell of your fear _

_driven by desire instinct and hunger_

_And I will survive while you die _

_I will survive while you die _

_and I will survive while you die _

_I will survive while you die _

_In your slow demise mercy denied _

_bitter is the taste of your last breath _

_choking on a bite from the apple of Eden _

_victim of my lies deceit and betrayal _

_And I will survive while you die _

_I will survive while you die _

_and I will survive while you die _

_I will survive while you die _

_Shed my skin steal your soul _

_again and again from the birth of time…"_

_-"The Devil Incarnate"_

_Death Angel_

The night her father is arrested is the night Amanda Clarke dies. There is no Emily Thorne to take her place, so she becomes someone in between. She calls herself Nobody.

If she doesn't have her daddy, than who is she? Nobody. That's the rationale of a little girl alone in a cold room. Nobody was the one who endured the psychiatrist and reporters. Nobody dealt with the foster homes, the cold women who called her the Devil's spawn.

Nobody was the one who develops a fascination with fire. Nobody was the one who gets sent to Juvie. Nobody befriends Emily Thorne. Nobody learns that her daddy really was the angel she believed him to be. Nobody was the one who seeks revenge.

And then Nobody takes a new meaning. Her enemies, the Graysons, the Initiative, Lydia Martin, they are Polyphemus, the Cyclops, and she is Nobody. They ate her father, they ate her heart, and they will burn for their betrayal. And she just might burn with them.

In public, she's Emily Thorne. Pretty socialite. Sweet girl next door. The girl she would've been if her life had been uninterrupted by betrayal and loneliness. With Nolan and select few, she is the ghost of Amanda Clarke. The vindictive child. The cold-blooded entity. The devil's daughter. A single-minded demon out for blood.

But alone, when the lights are out, she slides into the blank spots, into Nobody. Nobody is both the scared child and the merciless woman. Nobody is the crooked angel and the bird with broken wings. She is free to feel everything, all that Emily Thorne, angelic socialite, and all that Amanda Clarke, demonized orphan, feels. She's allowed to be angry and sad and happy and scared but most of all she's allowed to be human, she's allowed to be vulnerable. And that is something neither Emily nor Amanda are allowed to be.

She doesn't share Nobody with anybody else; that would be an open admission that Emily and Amanda do not exist. And her survival depends on Emily's existence, her allies depend on Amanda's. The truth is, no one wants Nobody. They want Emily, pretty, caring, good. They want Amanda, broken, angry, determined. No one wants the girl underneath it all. No one wants Nobody. Not even her.

There are moments she almost gives her away. Awake in her bed, Daniel's arm thrown over hip, oppressive and safe. Amanda stroking her hair. Nolan trying to throw an arm around her shoulders in comfort. Jack smiling at her. Ashley's margaritas and snark. And for a second, for each of them, she almost falls into the empty spaces, into Nobody. She almost lets them have her, the real her.

But then she remembers her purpose. She remembers the rage that Amanda has stored in her heart. She remembers the careful socialite smile Emily has perfected. She remembers the feeling of matches between her fingers and unknown arms pulling her away from her father. And her mask sinks back into place, and Nobody stays locked inside her heart, waiting patiently for the solitude, waiting to be released into an empty house.

Sometimes she thinks Amanda is just like her. Or should she say Emily? Either way, there's a vacancy in the other girl that is familiar. She rebuilt herself on the bones of another person, and Emily (Amanda) can respect that Sometimes, she thinks Amanda (Emily) might be Nobody too.

When she wakes up in the morning, she is Nobody. She puts on her Emily mask, and everything is okay. Under the mask she wraps Amanda around her securely; reminding her of her purpose. The truth of the matter is, if she let herself be Nobody, she wouldn't care at all. And that would be sadder than the story of her life.

Her story is the story of a pretty little girl who grew up safe and happy. She loved her father very much, and he loved her even more. And then one day it fell apart, because goodness cannot last in a world so evil. And then she was taken away, and no one ever loved her again. And she grew up angry and manipulative. She grew up alone.

Her father was demonized, they called him the devil, they called him heartless. They called her the devil's daughter. They called her pitiable and sad and pathetic. They called her ruined. They had it all wrong. Her father was an angel. And she was not ruined. She was rebuilt, on the pillars of Nobody and Emily Thorne. She is not pathetic, she is ruthless. She is heartless. If any such devil existed, it would be her.


End file.
